Terry Legacy not guilty of infant son’s murder

There is no doubt someone abused the six-week-old child. Half his brain was blackened with blood clots. His skull was fractured. His ribs broken. His mouth cut.

But a jury took just seven hours to find his father, Terry Daniel Legacy, not guilty of second degree murder.

In the prisoner’s box Legacy, 29, displayed no emotion – as has been his demeanor throughout the five week trial—as the five men and six women of the jury gave their verdict to the court at 10:15 Thursday night.

They found the small, pale man not guilty of second degree murder but guilty of aggravated assault, deciding that he had caused the broken hip of 16-month-old Dontae, his stepson. He will be sentenced on the aggravated assault on Friday.

Legacy did not take the stand during his trial and said nothing following the verdict. The only people in the courtroom were lawyers, police officers and court staff. None of Legacy’s family was present.

Defence lawyer Greg Leslie had argued that Mary Smith, the mother of Cohen and Dontae, was an alternate suspect in the baby’s murder. He painted a picture of an angry, violent woman who was alone with Cohen for several short moments on the night of his homicide. She took the stand for several days at the trial but faces no charges.

The jury began deliberations at about 1 p.m., took a two hour dinner break and was expected to wrap up deliberations for the night at 9 p.m. However, the jurors sent several notes to Justice Harrison Arrell asking for more time because they were close to a verdict.

There were only 11 jurors deciding Legacy’s guilt or innocence. Early on in the trial one male juror was discharged for personal reasons.

In September 2007, X-rays showed Dontae had suffered a rare and painful hip fracture.

Legacy originally told a Hamilton police child abuse detective and a Children’s Aid Society of Hamilton child protection worker that Dontae fell off a bed. Later he admitted he lied and told a new story that the boy had fallen down the basement stairs.

The investigators ruled the injury accidental.

But on May 11, 2008 Cohen died. It was just before midnight on Mother’s Day when Smith dialed 911 and said her baby wasn’t breathing. Court had heard he had woken and Smith and Legacy had changed his diaper and tried feeding him. At various times over the next few minutes they each held him out of sight of the other parent.

All witnesses agreed however that Baby Cohen was in Legacy’s arms when he took his last, hiccupping breath.

An autopsy revealed Cohen had a fatal blood clot on his brain, caused either by a blow to his head or by vigorous shaking. He also had a devastating previous skull fracture, bruised internal organs, broken ribs and a wound in his mouth.

After Cohen’s death, the investigation into Dontae’s injury was reopened. At that time, new information about the height of the basement stairs was given to the orthopedic surgeon who had treated the boy. Based on the new information, he said Dontae could not have broken his hip by falling down the stairs and was almost certainly the victim of child abuse.

Crown attorney Michael Fox had said, in his closing arguments Wednesday, that it would be statistically unfathomable that the injuries to Dontae and Cohen were done by two different people in the same home. Common sense would dictate, he argued, that whoever was responsible for Dontae’s fractured hip was also responsible for Cohen’s death.

The jury did not see it that way.

Just before the courtroom emptied out after the verdict, some other words from the Crown’s closing arguments came to mind.

Fox had told the jury he had been pondering why it is that the murder of babies has such a profound, visceral, impact on us. In law, the murder of a baby is equal in weight to the murder of any other victim. But morally, it is somehow heftier.

Much of that, Fox said, lies in the obvious fact that “it’s difficult for us to imagine the suffering of a baby.”

But some of it lies deeper perhaps.

Each and every person in this courtroom – every juror, the judge, the lawyers, indeed Terry Legacy himself – descends from a 200,000 year old unbroken chain of babies who were cared for and protected.

Killing babies is a rare and unnatural thing. It is instinct along with love that has the vast majority of mothers and fathers do all they can to ensure their offspring not only survive, but thrive.

Terry Legacy not guilty of infant son’s murder

There is no doubt someone abused the six-week-old child. Half his brain was blackened with blood clots. His skull was fractured. His ribs broken. His mouth cut.

But a jury took just seven hours to find his father, Terry Daniel Legacy, not guilty of second degree murder.

In the prisoner’s box Legacy, 29, displayed no emotion – as has been his demeanor throughout the five week trial—as the five men and six women of the jury gave their verdict to the court at 10:15 Thursday night.

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They found the small, pale man not guilty of second degree murder but guilty of aggravated assault, deciding that he had caused the broken hip of 16-month-old Dontae, his stepson. He will be sentenced on the aggravated assault on Friday.

Legacy did not take the stand during his trial and said nothing following the verdict. The only people in the courtroom were lawyers, police officers and court staff. None of Legacy’s family was present.

Defence lawyer Greg Leslie had argued that Mary Smith, the mother of Cohen and Dontae, was an alternate suspect in the baby’s murder. He painted a picture of an angry, violent woman who was alone with Cohen for several short moments on the night of his homicide. She took the stand for several days at the trial but faces no charges.

The jury began deliberations at about 1 p.m., took a two hour dinner break and was expected to wrap up deliberations for the night at 9 p.m. However, the jurors sent several notes to Justice Harrison Arrell asking for more time because they were close to a verdict.

There were only 11 jurors deciding Legacy’s guilt or innocence. Early on in the trial one male juror was discharged for personal reasons.

In September 2007, X-rays showed Dontae had suffered a rare and painful hip fracture.

Legacy originally told a Hamilton police child abuse detective and a Children’s Aid Society of Hamilton child protection worker that Dontae fell off a bed. Later he admitted he lied and told a new story that the boy had fallen down the basement stairs.

The investigators ruled the injury accidental.

But on May 11, 2008 Cohen died. It was just before midnight on Mother’s Day when Smith dialed 911 and said her baby wasn’t breathing. Court had heard he had woken and Smith and Legacy had changed his diaper and tried feeding him. At various times over the next few minutes they each held him out of sight of the other parent.

All witnesses agreed however that Baby Cohen was in Legacy’s arms when he took his last, hiccupping breath.

An autopsy revealed Cohen had a fatal blood clot on his brain, caused either by a blow to his head or by vigorous shaking. He also had a devastating previous skull fracture, bruised internal organs, broken ribs and a wound in his mouth.

After Cohen’s death, the investigation into Dontae’s injury was reopened. At that time, new information about the height of the basement stairs was given to the orthopedic surgeon who had treated the boy. Based on the new information, he said Dontae could not have broken his hip by falling down the stairs and was almost certainly the victim of child abuse.

Crown attorney Michael Fox had said, in his closing arguments Wednesday, that it would be statistically unfathomable that the injuries to Dontae and Cohen were done by two different people in the same home. Common sense would dictate, he argued, that whoever was responsible for Dontae’s fractured hip was also responsible for Cohen’s death.

The jury did not see it that way.

Just before the courtroom emptied out after the verdict, some other words from the Crown’s closing arguments came to mind.

Fox had told the jury he had been pondering why it is that the murder of babies has such a profound, visceral, impact on us. In law, the murder of a baby is equal in weight to the murder of any other victim. But morally, it is somehow heftier.

Much of that, Fox said, lies in the obvious fact that “it’s difficult for us to imagine the suffering of a baby.”

But some of it lies deeper perhaps.

Each and every person in this courtroom – every juror, the judge, the lawyers, indeed Terry Legacy himself – descends from a 200,000 year old unbroken chain of babies who were cared for and protected.

Killing babies is a rare and unnatural thing. It is instinct along with love that has the vast majority of mothers and fathers do all they can to ensure their offspring not only survive, but thrive.

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Terry Legacy not guilty of infant son’s murder

There is no doubt someone abused the six-week-old child. Half his brain was blackened with blood clots. His skull was fractured. His ribs broken. His mouth cut.

But a jury took just seven hours to find his father, Terry Daniel Legacy, not guilty of second degree murder.

In the prisoner’s box Legacy, 29, displayed no emotion – as has been his demeanor throughout the five week trial—as the five men and six women of the jury gave their verdict to the court at 10:15 Thursday night.

Related Content

They found the small, pale man not guilty of second degree murder but guilty of aggravated assault, deciding that he had caused the broken hip of 16-month-old Dontae, his stepson. He will be sentenced on the aggravated assault on Friday.

Legacy did not take the stand during his trial and said nothing following the verdict. The only people in the courtroom were lawyers, police officers and court staff. None of Legacy’s family was present.

Defence lawyer Greg Leslie had argued that Mary Smith, the mother of Cohen and Dontae, was an alternate suspect in the baby’s murder. He painted a picture of an angry, violent woman who was alone with Cohen for several short moments on the night of his homicide. She took the stand for several days at the trial but faces no charges.

The jury began deliberations at about 1 p.m., took a two hour dinner break and was expected to wrap up deliberations for the night at 9 p.m. However, the jurors sent several notes to Justice Harrison Arrell asking for more time because they were close to a verdict.

There were only 11 jurors deciding Legacy’s guilt or innocence. Early on in the trial one male juror was discharged for personal reasons.

In September 2007, X-rays showed Dontae had suffered a rare and painful hip fracture.

Legacy originally told a Hamilton police child abuse detective and a Children’s Aid Society of Hamilton child protection worker that Dontae fell off a bed. Later he admitted he lied and told a new story that the boy had fallen down the basement stairs.

The investigators ruled the injury accidental.

But on May 11, 2008 Cohen died. It was just before midnight on Mother’s Day when Smith dialed 911 and said her baby wasn’t breathing. Court had heard he had woken and Smith and Legacy had changed his diaper and tried feeding him. At various times over the next few minutes they each held him out of sight of the other parent.

All witnesses agreed however that Baby Cohen was in Legacy’s arms when he took his last, hiccupping breath.

An autopsy revealed Cohen had a fatal blood clot on his brain, caused either by a blow to his head or by vigorous shaking. He also had a devastating previous skull fracture, bruised internal organs, broken ribs and a wound in his mouth.

After Cohen’s death, the investigation into Dontae’s injury was reopened. At that time, new information about the height of the basement stairs was given to the orthopedic surgeon who had treated the boy. Based on the new information, he said Dontae could not have broken his hip by falling down the stairs and was almost certainly the victim of child abuse.

Crown attorney Michael Fox had said, in his closing arguments Wednesday, that it would be statistically unfathomable that the injuries to Dontae and Cohen were done by two different people in the same home. Common sense would dictate, he argued, that whoever was responsible for Dontae’s fractured hip was also responsible for Cohen’s death.

The jury did not see it that way.

Just before the courtroom emptied out after the verdict, some other words from the Crown’s closing arguments came to mind.

Fox had told the jury he had been pondering why it is that the murder of babies has such a profound, visceral, impact on us. In law, the murder of a baby is equal in weight to the murder of any other victim. But morally, it is somehow heftier.

Much of that, Fox said, lies in the obvious fact that “it’s difficult for us to imagine the suffering of a baby.”

But some of it lies deeper perhaps.

Each and every person in this courtroom – every juror, the judge, the lawyers, indeed Terry Legacy himself – descends from a 200,000 year old unbroken chain of babies who were cared for and protected.

Killing babies is a rare and unnatural thing. It is instinct along with love that has the vast majority of mothers and fathers do all they can to ensure their offspring not only survive, but thrive.